Assessment and Evaluation of Detailed Schedules in Building Construction

Abstract

Detailed schedules are essential in development of useful “project baselines”; needed for tracking and progress reporting as well as for the administration of construction disputes. Thus, it is necessary to insure the goodness of these schedules. Detailed construction schedules are frequently developed by contractors upon the award of contracts. Owners and engineers need to assess these schedules based on numerous considerations. However, many of these considerations are disregarded in the schedule review methods currently in practice.
This research provides a comprehensive study of criteria and methods used for evaluating the goodness of generated detailed schedules. As well, it presents a structured method to assist owners in performing an effective schedule assessment and evaluation based on a set of criteria extracted from literature. A composite index is proposed for assessment of the level of schedule goodness taking into account the relative level of importance of each criterion used in the developed index. A web-based questionnaire survey was conducted in order to collect feedback from industry professionals regarding the level of importance of each criterion. Furthermore, an empirical method for job logic assessment of institutional buildings is developed based on historical data and schedule analyses of successful projects. The developed method was automated in a developed software application. The software, called SAE (Schedule Assessment and Evaluation), was designed using object oriented modeling utilizing an application of Microsoft Visual Basic. The developed software encompasses three tiers of assessment: assessment against industry recommended practices and benchmarks; job logic review; and productivity assessment and crew size evaluation. The developed framework is flexible and can be used in different domains of construction. Nevertheless, the thresholds defined for the job logic review and evaluation of productivity and crew sizes are applicable to construction of buildings for educational institutions. Four case examples, including three of actual projects, were analysed to demonstrate the essential features of the developed method and to highlight its capabilities.